Sunday, October 14, 2012

DCC: 2nd Impressions

I've finished reading the classes, and I am really digging what they've done. In no particular order, here are some of the things that caught my eye:

Clerics seem like a unique class, rather than a sort of Fighter/Magic-user. They are mechanically tied to their deity (and not just with the lame ass areas of power or whatever it was called). There are real mechanical consequences for a cleric pissing off his deity, which I think is awesome. Equally awesome is that the clerics spells are fundamentally different from wizard spells because of the Disapproval mechanic. I have always thought that the cleric shouldn't memorize his prayers like a magic-user does his spells. It makes no sense for the cleric to wake up in the morning and think "Hmm, I think I might need to pray for some food later today. Better memorize the prayer for that. " I've always thought the cleric's spells should be more like very specific god-calls, and that's pretty much the way this game portrays them.

The warrior's Deeds die has been talked about a LOT, so I won't go into detail. I'll just say that I love the idea of the fighter being able to try anything. One of the things I detested about Feats was the notion that I had to give up ten things in order to do one. Not so with Deeds. Total flexibility and ease of use. Win-win.

Wizards and the magic system ROCK. I can totally see playing an Elric-type character under these rules. Wizards are tied to a patron, whether that patron is an evil god, an elemental force, or a demon from the Pit. They can also call directly on their patron for aid, but at a price. Blood and souls for my lord, Arioch!

The race-as-class demi-humans look interesting and, more importantly, fun. Too often they look like an exercise in tit-for-tat, and any real thought about them is an after-thought. These seem fun, but still balanced.

All in all, I am as excited by this game as I have been since I first played Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. So far, this seems like a set of rules I could either play or run and never have to worry about being pumped up and ready for the next session. Everything I've read so far just screams FUN! I can't wait to read more.

Howdy, Lee. You don't need the weird dice at all. The only wonky thing is the d7 and d14. The d3 is obvious enough with a d6. The d5 is half a d10, like 1-2 = 1, 2-3 = 2, and so on. The best solution for the d7 is roll a d8 and re-roll 8's. Not too cool, but much easier than trying to procure a d7. The d14 is a d7 rolled along with a d6. If the d6 comes up 1-3, do nothing more, read the d7 as it rolled. If the d6 comes up 4-6, add +7 to the d7 roll. The d16 is the same, but with a d8, and add +8 if the d6 is 4-6. Lastly is the d30. Roll a d10 and a d6. If the d6 is 1-2, read the d10 as-is. If it is 3-4, add +10, and if it is 5-6, add +20. It's not nearly as complicated as it reads. When I first started playing the "d20" had 20 sides, but they were numbered 0-9 twice. We simulated the d20 with the d6 "adder" like I give you here, so I am completely familiar with the method.